More amendments to Brazil gambling bill

Brazil’s march towards a new gambling regulatory regime that embraces online gambling is a slow one, but this week further progress has been made, albeit only at the committee stage in the House of Representatives.

Our readers may recall that SB 186/2014 deals with major changes to the nation’s gambling laws in order to accept regulated casino, sports betting and online gambling. The bill was actually approved by the Special Committee on National Development last December, but was submitted to further debate and a total of 16 new amendments more recently.

This week it was re-approved by the committee and has emerged with a little more detail.

Key among the bill’s provisions are proposals on the rate of taxation, and in the case of online gambling these are hardly good news, with a 20 percent tax on GGR – twice that proposed for land casino companies. Brazilian lawmakers feel that such a disparity is justified, given that brick and mortar casino companies face considerably higher start-up and running costs.

Most of the amendments concern the land gambling provisions of the bill, where it has been proposed that licensees will be granted 30-year licenses and must have a physical presence in the country, but there is no indication at present of how much in initial fees they will be required to pay.

There are preventative and severe punitive measures for illegal operators once the bill has been implemented, and these include blocking illegal financial transactions by Brazil’s central bank and financial institutions, and jail terms for transgressors.

Individual Brazilian provinces will be allowed up to three land casinos each, with gambling facilities not to exceed 10 percent of the overall footprint of the hotel or resort applying for licensing.

Progress on the full content of the bill has been slow, and there is little to suggest that it will accelerate…but at least there is movement.

http://www.azarplus.com/fotos/file/texto_aprobado_brasil.pdf